Tokyo to provide Manila defense aid

Japan will provide defense equipment and technology to the Philippines, which will disturb the peace in the South China Sea, experts said. The Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the agreement he signed with Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa in Manila on Monday consolidates the Asian countries' "mutual desire to enhance our respective defense capabilities" and "to contribute to regional peace and stability," the Associated Press (AP) reported on Monday. Gazmin was quoted by AP as saying that the agreement serves as a framework for the transfer of defense equipment and technology, with details to be settled in future talks. An official from the International Press Division of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed with the Global Times on Monday that the two countries signed the agreement, aiming to enhance defense equipment and technology jointly produced and developed by Japan and the Philippines. The agreement would not only "reinforce ties between the two countries but would also enhance the defense capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines needed to address Philippine security concerns and to contribute to regional peace and stability," reported the Philippine news site update.ph on Monday. Since Japan is very concerned with the sea lanes in the South China Sea, its support to the Philippines and containing China are beneficial to Japan after taking advantage of the conflict between China and the Philippines, Lian Degui, deputy director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times. Lian said Japan also intends to ease the pressure in the East China Sea and its move has met the expectations of the US, which has repeatedly asked its allies like Japan to increase their presence in the South China Sea. Lü Yaodong, director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that since Japan's security bills to be enacted in March will allow the country's Self-Defense Force to exercise collective self-defense, Japan is finding opportunities to cooperate with countries in the South China Sea to contain China. However, Japan's move to alienate China from its neighboring countries violates the four-point agreement signed by the two countries before Chinese President Xi Jinping met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in November 2014, and shows the hypocrisy of the Abe administration, Lü said. The Philippines is the first country from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with which Japan has concluded such an agreement, update.ph reported on Monday. A senior Philippine security official said the new agreement "opens the doors to a lot of opportunities beyond the confines of mere equipment transfer or sale," AP reported on Saturday.